walking with no shoes or socks
by Sorde
Summary: In the aftermath of everything, they run in triangles. Post-season three finale. Chuck/Sarah


**Author's Note: **So, I didn't have the chance to write anything before my last two stories, but, in short, Chuck is my newest fandom, and CS is by far the greatest thing that's ever happened to television. This little story-thing is my relief for the excitement the finale has left me in, and I'd expect at least a few more of these throughout this far-too-long summer. It's probably too scattered to make any comprehensive sense, but I hope you can decipher it enough to enjoy!

* * *

In the aftermath of everything, they run in triangles.

He knows the saying is running in circles, but he convinces himself that there's an end to their running. They started their running at different points, he decides, but they're headed in the same direction. They'll get there at the same time.

An isosceles triangle, he figures.

And he's running because of the shock value is too much to bear. His dad is gone, he's not a spy anymore, and everything he's worked so hard to overcome for the last three years comes rushing back; fear is the biggest one, but he eventually decides, halfway up his side of the triangle, that he can't run from fear, no matter how much he tries.

Oh, as an added bonus, it turns out that his mom is alive and while. Too bad he can't find her.

He comes to peace with that, eventually, settles his mind down and tells himself that it's all for the best. He has his family already, Ellie and Awesome and Morgan and Casey and Sarah. And they're handful enough.

She's running because she feels too much and it's too soon and she's vulnerable, which does not bode well with Sarah Walker. Because he's hit the point where she can't push him out of the way to save his life. That's all on him.

And she can't lose him.

Shaw was right: she's a spy. Emotions are supposed to be casually pushed aside, and she's in too deep to stop it now.

Things are moving too quickly, she decides, before she's even left the base of the triangle. They've moved in together, professed their love for one another, decided that happiness trumps all. And on one sunny Tuesday afternoon, she catches a very distinct box outline in his Buy More jacket. So she very hastily assures him that she loves the place they're at now, and she doesn't see the box again.

But as she gradually starts to run up her side of the triangle, she finally clues in to the idea of marriage, the notion that her whispered _forevers _actually spoke the truth. Maybe it's when he stops having near-death experiences, and she calms down enough to consider taking a real breath. When she does take that breath, her mind clears a little bit. It takes her a while to realize that she hasn't been taking real breaths for twenty-nine years, and that the oxygen feels _damn good._

He turns to Morgan, halfway up his side, and, when that fails (as was inevitable; Morgan's advice very rarely goes any deeper then 'Dude, she wants _you. _Embrace that.') he turns to Ellie. It's her who suggests that they need to stop running _towards _each other and just let themselves crash.

"An isosceles triangle can be as big or as small as you like, Chuck. But I know you. You've been working on a five-year plan for the last decade. Maybe you need to make a rash decision."

Which is why he goes out and buys the ring, and ignores Sarah when she tries to veer off course to avoid the crash. Because he knows her well enough to know that she freaks when she lets her brain do the talking.

When she realizes that they're running in triangles, she wants to turn to Chuck, but ends up having a drink with Casey instead. Neither is much of a talker, but Casey gets her silence, and finally says, gruffly, "He's got a good head." Once she finally decides that he means in it in the metaphorical sense, and not in the well-proportioned sense (it's always hard to tell, with Casey), she nods, takes a sip of her beer, and retaliates with a soft-spoken, "Yeah, he does."

Casey gets her silences better then her words. "You two make a good team."

But just when she reaches the end, just when they're about to crash together, she finds out that he's been lying again, finds out about his mom, and she goes running back to the base of the damn triangle, but he stays at the top, and suddenly, they at opposite ends.

Their relationship had already gone down that route, had been spiraling around it for two and a half years before they both reached the same end and crashed, months ago, now. Neither really knows how to feel about it.

...

"I'm sorry," he murmurs one day while they walk the streets, her arm looped through his. He's got his intense-gaze look on as he half-turns, grabs her shoulders, and stares at her, concentrated. "I'm sorry I lied."

_Too late _and _I love you _flash across her mind at the same time, but both are lost before she can say them. Instead, she shuts down her face and says, her voice ice, "Again."

"Again," he consents, because she is right, the lies are stacking to the extent that the minor ones are getting lost along the way.

"You've already apologized," she points out. She wants to forgive him, because it's been months since they've been at different places, running in triangles, but lies hold a dark place in her mind, hidden neatly between the lies her dad offered and those Shaw whispered, before his attempted murder.

"I know. But I don't think you believe me."

"I don't," she offers in reply, and stares down at her shoes, then his.

"Look, Sarah, I know... I screwed up," he begins, and takes a deep breath. "But I kept everything secret because I wanted to protect you."

"I don't know if you've noticed, Chuck, but the only thing capable of hurting me is you."

...

He does little things to make it up to her. Gives her an in-depth review to his day, tells her things before telling Morgan, talks about his childhood ad nauseum. The lies stop just as suddenly as they started, and she's suddenly finding herself running back up the correct direction of the triangle instead of sliding down it.

He talks to her about his dad on the anniversary of his death. He hasn't talked to anyone about him, besides Ellie, and it's the straw that finally helps her take that final step.

So she proposes to him.

She waits an adequate amount of time after the anniversary, and doesn't say much. They're relaxing in the hotel after a mission, and she just says, "Marry me."

Chuck Bartowski is not one to let opportunities slip through his fingers, and the 'Wha- what? I mean, yeah, for sure, I just- There's a ring in my pocket, should I give it to you, or is your job? I mean, I didn't propose...' is barely out of his mouth before they finally reach the end of the triangle and crash together.


End file.
